Thursday, March 12, 2015

L. P. Jacks

From the Reeves* collection, this study of the slightly neglected writer L.P.Jacks (Lawrence Pearsall Jacks 1860-1955). His best known book was probably Mad Shepherds and Other Human Studies from which the drawing of 'Snarley Bob' comes (below.) There is an excellent article on him in Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography and Gutenberg have the entire text of Mad Shepherds.L.P. Jacks. A potential distinction was presented unknowingly to the citizens of Nottingham in 1860, the year when the eminent Lawrence Pearsall Jacks was born. I have a notion that he was a delicate child and frequently a trial to his parents; but I am sure that I am one among thousands to whom he has given hours of delight, either in speeches or in his fascinating literature.Indeed I sometimes feel that he would have been much better known to the general public had he been nothing but a professional journalist, instead of one of the leading Unitarians of his long career; for his reminiscences are so well written and so fascinating that I often pay him the compliment of a second or third reading. I browse among his memoirs as frequently as those of Harold Nicolson's letters and diaries and Frank Swinnerton's autobiographies; for there is a touch of magic and intensity in his recollections which keep many a mesmerized reader fighting against sleep on numerous occasions. His was the vivid phrase, the unmistakable meaning, the frank opinion, the distilled

'Snarley Bob' (by L. Leslie Brooke)

wisdom of a long life among some of the most brilliant men of his era, and anyone who could claim him for a friend must have been a very privileged adult.

He was rather small in stature but was recompensed by an unusually attractive face and a very intelligent expression. True he was somewhat nervy when making a speech, but his forceful, explicit presentation rarely failed to create the lecturer's great hope: persistent attention.Few people whom I have met have been so enthusiastic in their appreciation of the great men to be found controlling the destinies of Oxford undergraduates, and Jacks, owing to his long years working with and meeting wardens, professors and dons, probably knew as many really outstanding scholars as any other man of his time, and even if his declaration that proportionately Oxford has known more great men than any other varsity in England is somewhat extravagant, many of us must revise our theory that most rare teachers are somewhat restricted in their general knowledge of mankind. Certainly the university's bounteous harvest encourages Jacks' belief: Lord Birkenhead, Asquith, Gladstone, Curzon, Gorst, Cosmo Gordon Lang, Grey, Ernest Barker, Amery, together with numerous great judges, lawyers, statesmen, ambassadors and other eminent figures, especially the members of All Souls, all make us realize what a wonderful training-ground for eminence an ancient university really is. Moreover, such a multitude of outstanding men would not be possible, as already suggested, without great teachers; and even my limited knowledge of Oxford worthies enables me to remember such names as Jowett, Fisher, Pewsey, Ruskin, Manning, Newman, Marett, Bowra, Cyril Burt, Spooner and Sparrow.L. P. Jacks was fully aware of his good fortune in achieving the position of Principal of Manchester College, Oxford, which enabled him to live for many years among distinguished scholars, and the delighted readers of his recollections share many of his rich experiences.One of his most exciting stories, however, relates to his boyish experience in witnessing a riot broken up by a fearless police sergeant with an effective truncheon, who was so unbelievably successful that a party of belated soldiers arrived to find that all was quiet in the Midlands. Few writers could have given a better description of a hectic hour. Nor can one forget his contempt for modern methods of dealing with thoroughly troublesome, useless and criminal people. Not that he expected always to be right. He has of course admitted ignorance on many subjects. I think it was in Near the Brink that he announced a hope to resume his education at some continuation school in the next world: a really original but typical suggestion.I still adhere to the opinion that, as a professional journalist alone, Jacks would have been a triumphant success; but even so one has to admit that his publications varied in their interest to the general reader. His forty-five year editorship of The Hibbert Journal testified to his acquaintance with journalism, but I believe its appeal was limited. Then, his books on Religion would hardly be likely to have a large sale; nor would some of his additional publications; his Education through Recreation, for instance. It is a slim volume of a dozen short chapters and largish print, which at a pinch could be written in a couple of months; and during several successive years when he published one book per annum I imagine his publications varied very considerably in length. Then as regards his thirtyone achievements in authorship some of my preferences would be My American Friends; the Revolt against Mechanism; The Confession of an Octogenarian; Near the Brink and Life and Letters of Stopford Brooks.As Jacks was assistant to Stopford Brooks in Bedford Chapel, London, and had married the reverend gentleman's daughter, he was obviously the comprehensive biographer of a well-known divine; hence I should expect such a publication to be a success. To return for a minute to Education through Recreation I am deeply impressed with an account of an instance of bold initiative regarding the branch of an Institute for Education started in one city. Cultural lectures were arranged and inaugurated, but the students were bored, attendance was poor, so the whole scheme was scrapped and community dancing was introduced, which was an immediate and sustained success, leading to further experiments in the arts.At this point I recall the L.C.C. and evening classes. I used to be an eager student attending classes in law, economics, literature, Latin and French. At all times I noted in early autumn that the education committee organized a very efficient system of adult education and if one could be critical at all it would be to suggest that at times certain classes persisted longer than they ought to have done. Not that lecturers were frequently to blame. The general standard of lectures was high. I recall a class in House Jobbery mainly for women. Owing to little support it had to close, yet the few women left liked their teacher and were thrilled at their own progress in such things as mending fuses, giving first-aid to leaky kettles and all sorts of household goods of all sizes. It occurs to me that conceivably its successor the G.L.C. might also scrap certain doubtful programmes and act as promptly as a local branch of the Institute of Adult Education.During several years as a student Jacks studied at Manchester University, Gottingen and Harvard. As he became widely known he received honorary degrees from Glasgow, Liverpool, Harvard, McGill and Rochester, U.S.A. It is obvious therefore that among leading thinkers in the world he was recognized as an authority on theology and adult education. It is possible, moreover, that beyond his intellectual eminence there was one significant quality in his personality which made other leading figures anxious to pay homage to an unusual man, I suspect they had learned that his integrity was impregnable.It is always significant to me that he and Sir Oliver Lodge were kindred spirits. For my part, if I could have had a couple of hours with Jacks I should have liked to discuss his book: The Alchemy of Thought.* Found among the papers of the long defunct literary agency Michael Hayes of Cromwell Road S.W.5 - parts of a manuscript memoir by one L.R. Reeve of Newton Abbot, South Devon. Mr Reeve was attempting to get the book (Among those Present: Very Exceptional People) published, but on the evidence of the unused stamp Hayes never replied and L. R. Reeve published the book himself through the esteemed vanity publisher Stockwell two years later in 1974.

L R Reeve had, in a long life, met or observed a remarkable selection of famous persons. He presents 'vignettes' of 110 persons from all grades of society (many minor or even unknown) they include Winston Churchill, Dorothy Sayers, H H Asquith, John Buchan, the cricketer Jack Hobbs, J.B. Priestley, H.G. Wells, Marconi, E.M. Forster, Duchess of Atholl, Marie Stopes, Oliver Lodge and Cecil Sharp -- 'it is unnecessary to explain that many I have known have not known me. All of them I have seen, most of them I have heard, and some of them have sought information, even advice from me." Reeve states that the unifying qualification all these people have is '… some subtle emanation of personality we call leadership, and which can inspire people to actions unlikely to be undertaken unless prompted by a stronger will."

Reeve was a teacher throughout his life and deputy head of 3 London schools, headmaster of Loughborough emergency schools, ex-president of London Class Teachers Association and very early member of the British Psychological Society (55 years)... I calculate he was probably born in about 1900. His style is markedly unexciting but he has much information unavailable elsewhere.. He sent several typed manuscripts to (from the smell) the chain-smoking agent Hayes…

... World Brain of H.G. Wells, an olla podrida, a rag bag of information, trivia and data. The conception of a sublime, leisured future. A hotch potch, a mélange, a farrago, a salmagundi.. Knowledge is power. Truth is beauty. Need to know this (and much more) on earth. A coming world of creation and idleness where time is spent in pursuit of knowledge and robots empty the waste paper basket. A dream of no work, all play and jack not a dull boy any more.

The oddest collection, passing strange, a saga, a fantasy, a dream…enter Captain Cuttle and the pedant Casaubon (a maligned man, Madam George). Keeping some sort of record with factoids, footnotes, ephemera, factbooks and discoveries preserved. An information bank, an interest bearing investment. An index of all knowledge, no less, laid out in the lost monograph- A proposal for an information sharing galaxy.

An amazing expanding archive, way beyond the algorithmic dream, post Mass Observation, many beautiful things no longer lost, bringing forth the mind of God, the all seeing eye - the library of Babel, Alexandria, far Antioch and the lost library of Zembla, the loot of cities. Universal access to all knowledge [A2K]. A vanished world recaptured. Notes and Queries honoured: New Encyclopaedists [Encyc2]. Nothing lost or forgotten. Time spent in research, curiosity and scholarship (the daring to be dull) the Renaissance ideal, the Victorian vicarage - just 4 hours a week of money yielding work. By Timothy! The answer is written on the wind, on the wall of the world. So much to know. Sums are not set as a test on Erasmus, much glory to Aaron Swartz... "He had a tale to tell." Madam, I'm Adam. Exit, pursued by a bear.

Jotcloud 101

"…new books every day, pamphlets, currantoes, stories, whole catalogues of volumes of all sorts, new paradoxes, opinions, schisms, heresies, controversies in philosophy, religion, &c. Now come tidings of weddings, maskings, mummeries, entertainments, jubilees, embassies, tilts and tournaments, trophies, triumphs, revels, sports, plays: then again, as in a new shifted scene, treasons, cheating tricks, robberies, enormous villainies in all kinds, funerals, burials, deaths of Princes, new discoveries, expeditions; now comical then tragical matters.To-day we hear of new Lords and officers created, to-morrow of some great men deposed, and then again of fresh honours conferred; one is let loose, another imprisoned; one purchaseth, another breaketh; he thrives, his neighbour turns bankrupt; now plenty, then again dearth and famine; one runs, another rides, wrangles, laughs, weeps &c... [Robert Burton]

What's the big idea?

Q. Where did the idea of jot101 and 'jotting' come from?

A. We knew a collector of esoterica who wrote notes and comments about his reading which he called his 'jottings.' It came from there. The information is not necessarily amusing, interesting, quirky or strange - but a 'jot' is generally new and original information or an advance on existing facts.

Q. So you would like jot101 to be a place where people archive research and notes from their readings?

A. Yes, but also information that they have come across in their work, in travel, from friends, in anecdote, in their family and in old books, periodicals, pamphlets and letters, manuscripts, notebooks and ephemera. Also obscure data, eyewitness reports, documents, photos, snapshots, press cuttings, diaries, biographies of seemingly unimportant people etc.,

Q. How does it differ from something like Wikipedia?

A. Much of the material is too minor and outside of the scope of an encyclopaedia. It is more about the preservation and curation of documents and ephemera; much of the information is beneath the Wikipedia radar (not notable enough) - it is closer to material referenced in their numbered footnotes …or the kind of information on which an encyclopaedic entry is based, part of the infrastructure... Jot101 is nearer to a mix of YouTube and the Victorian journal Notes and Queries in the way that people simply upload or record things they have found which are then in categories and searchable. The spirit of Notes and Queries is relentless curiosity and thirst for knowledge - however abstruse.

Q. Have you considered building a website and attracting contributions?

We already have a few contributors. We envision, in this century, a site where people seamlessly upload new information that they have found without having to create a website or a blog. Also where it is automatically codified along the lines of (say) the great Melvil Dewey and available for all eternity.

Remind me -what is a jot?

A jot is a piece of information. It is usually original and adds to our knowledge of the subject. Examples below:

The Terry-Thomas explanation.

Using the much loved gap-toothed British comedy actor Terry-Thomas as an example we show what is, and what is not, a jot.

Terry-Thomas's favourite drink was champagne. My father had a bar in Majorca and in the early 1960s Terry-Thomas holidayed there. He claims that T-T met Belinda Cunningham his third wife in his bar.It was called El Garito and catered for a louche Bohemian crowd. Terry-Thomas always called for champagne.

YES. Slight, but new information.

Terry-Thomas with his gap toothed smile and permanent cigarette holder always reminds me of my Uncle Derek who was thrown out of the Army in 1955 for stealing the mess takings. He was a 'bounder' too!

NO. Irrelevant information, adds nothing.

Terry-Thomas who everybody thought was such a 'bounder' and so terribly funny never made me or anyone in my family laugh. I think he was pretty lame.

NO. Opinion, and no new information. Also hard to believe...

I met a guy who had worked on a movie with Terry-Thomas. It was being shot in one of the hardest parts of Glasgow and after filming T-T insisted on dragging him and the crew to an exceptionally thuggish hardcore pub. T-T was in fine form, loud and posh and full of the joys of life and celebrity. He didn't change his style one iota for the local hard nuts. The guy thought there would almost certainly be a punch up but strangely the locals thought he was great and admired him for being exactly who he was and not changing his style.

YES. Good story, hopefully true and new information. A few more facts like the date, the name of the movie and the name of the pub would be even better.

So a jot adds new and original information, it is not irrelevant and it is not opinion. Every single posting on jot101 is a jot.